Given Birmingham's disastrous start to the season, just about the last thing Steve Bruce needs at the moment is a fixture that offers a group of former players the opportunity to humiliate his first team. That could happen tomorrow night, when Barry Fry takes charge of a Birmingham XI, including Geoff Horsfield and Dele Adebola, against Bruce's current side in Martin Grainger's testimonial. It is hardly a match Bruce will attach great significance to, although those fans disgruntled with City's woeful form would find plenty of ammunition in another defeat.

Saturday's defeat at Newcastle was City's fifth in the Premiership in succession, leaving Bruce facing his biggest challenge in seven years of management. Having recently described the first three years of his tenure at St Andrew's as "plain sailing", he now looks like being blown off course. His experiences at Sheffield United, Huddersfield, Wigan and Crystal Palace were not always positive, though Bruce never stayed long enough to show he is capable of confronting a challenge and coming out the other side. The onus is now on the former Manchester United defender to show that he can cope in the face of adversity.

Since arriving at St Andrew's in December 2001 Bruce could not have enjoyed more backing from the Birmingham board. Having taken the club back to the top flight after a 16-year gap he has been given the financial muscle to compete in the transfer marker without being burdened by outlandish expectations. Stability has been the only demand.

Birmingham's chairman David Gold and the managing director Karren Brady continue to support Bruce, though it is David Sullivan, the co-owner, whose voice carries most resonance. Sullivan is the decision maker of the triumvirate and has not hidden his dissatisfaction.

"I'm extremely unhappy with our appalling form and the way we are playing," he said. "It's extremely worrying and I'm absolutely on the floor about what's happening." He said Bruce will not be dismissed before the end of the season.

Bruce might well reflect on how quickly his fortunes have changed. Barely 14 months ago he was offered the chance to replace Sir Bobby Robson at Newcastle but remained loyal to Birmingham, having signed a five-year contract a year earlier. Now he is desperately seeking between "12 and 14 points" before the new year, to "make sure we are still in there with a shout". Presumably he will look to the fixtures against Bolton, Sunderland, West Ham, Fulham and Manchester City, as it is difficult to see the Christmas period, when Birmingham host Manchester United in between visits to Tottenham and Chelsea, providing much cheer.

Bruce points to the dreadful run of injuries Birmingham have suffered as a reason for one league victory this season - "I've maintained all along that when we get our big players back we will be OK -and they are starting to come back," he said, referring to the return of Stan Lazaridis and Muzzy Izzet on Saturday. However, Maik Taylor, normally a reliable performer, has made calamitous goalkeeping errors in consecutive weeks while at the opposite end a familiar pattern continues.

Since returning to the top flight in 2002 Birmingham have struggled to score goals, though this season's record of six from 12 games is made more worrying by the fact that Bruce paid £6m for Mikael Forssell and Walter Pandiani in the summer. Forssell is the bigger concern. He has not scored a Premiership goal since April 2004 and, even allowing for the serious injury the robbed him of nine months of football last season, he has gone 19 top-flight games without finding the net. It is a sequence that raises questions about Bruce's decision to sign him and, equally, to allow Clinton Morrison to leave.

Clearly signing a striker will be a priority when the transfer window reopens, though Sullivan will have to agree to relax the purse strings, something he claimed he was loath to do. That only increases the pressure on Bruce to meet his January points target, augmenting the likelihood that the first month of 2006 will be a defining point in his reign.

The same might be said of last season, given that it was the month in which Robbie Savage left for Blackburn in acrimonious circumstances. Since then Birmingham have picked up 25 points from 29 matches, suggesting the Welshman's presence has been missed much more than Bruce would care to admit. Fortunately for Bruce he failed to make Fry's squad.

Four reasons why Birmingham struggle

1 Robbie SavageThe team has badly missed his effervescence after he left in acrimonious circumstances in January.

2 InjuriesStan Lazaridis, David Dunn and Muzzy Izzet have rarely been out of the medical room in the past 10 months . Mario Melchiot, Stephen Clemence, Julian Gray have missed large chunks of this season.

3 Lack of goalsAfter hitting hit 17 Premiership goals in 32 appearances in his first season, Mikael Forssell has not scored in the league this term.In eight of 12 league games City have failed to score.

4 Indifferent signingsDamien Johnson and Matthew Upson were good business but that cannot be said of Walter Pandiani and Forssell on current form. David Dunn at £5.5m also has much to prove.